Things Never Change
by Gurokawaii
Summary: When Izuku Midoriya is just 9 years old his mother, Inko, is in an abusive relationship with her husband and Izuku's father, Hisashi and ends up taking her life as a result. Many years later, it's Izuku who is in the hands of his father's abuse. Will his new friends, the Todoroki's do something about it when they find out what is Warnings: Rape, Self-harm (Cutting), Child abuse.
1. Chapter 1

p id="docs-internal-guid-66add6a5-7fff-cb22-fcce-68663a58d286" dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku sat quietly at the window, a set of headphones jammed in each ear to block out the sound of Shouting. He hated the sound of it after all, especially when it came from his mother and father. He watched the people on the street below pass by, some being parents with their children, and he wondered if those kids went home to hear their parents fight as well, maybe their fathers smacked their mothers around too./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He let out a sigh when something in the corner of his eye on top of a nearby building caught his attention. He twisted his head to the side and tilted it up quite a bit so he could see. There was a man sitting on a fence atop the smallest in the area, but still pretty high building. He'd seen the man before, usually late at night when his parents fought or he just couldn't sleep, and recognized the mix of fear and exaggeration written all over his face as he stared at the ground, most definitely caught between going back to his apartment and splitting his body open on the ground./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku let out a small gasp as he got off the fence and stood on the other side of the ledge. So that was new. Izuku ripped out his headphones, got up out of his chair and ran to the door leading to the balcony connected to his room to yell out to the man, nothing in mind but probably just something like; 'Don't do it!', but by the time he got to the door the man was no longer standing atop the building. When Izuku opened the balcony door his ears were met by the sound of screams. He dared himself to look down at the ground below the building, and when he did, he instantly regretted it./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Even from afar he could make out the blood pooling around the man's head and split across his face under his left eye. He could only imagine what that looked like up close. ...A crowd had gathered at the bottom of the building and people were rushing down to the scene and pushing their way through the crowd to take a look at what everyone was gawking and screaming at./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku suddenly felt sick from knowing he could have helped earlier. .../span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly he heard footsteps from down the hall coming quickly towards his room as he clutched the railing tightly in his little hands./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In an instant the door to his room swung open and he turned to see his mother standing in the frame of the door, her once earlier straight dark green hair was now a mess, her mascara was streaming down her face from crying, and let's not mention the fresh bruises blossoming across all visible places on her skin. "What were you doing on the-" She was interrupted by the sound of glass smashing and clattering to the floor as someone had thrown it across the kitchen. There was a pregnant pause until footsteps made their way closer to the hallway, which caused her to freeze in fear. But she instantly went from frozen to tense as they stopped and made their way back down the hall and into the living room. "It doesn't matter what you were doing, just, pack up your stuff. We're leaving."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mom, you always say that, but we never make it very far, you know it's not worth leaving and making dad angrier than he already is." He said, causing his mother to frown./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well, this time we are leaving, and your father won't find us." She replied as calmly as she could./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""O- Okay Mom, whatever you say." He said, stepping off the balcony and closing the door behind him, then making his way across the room towards his closet./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grabbed the largest of the two suitcases he had and stuffed it full of clothes and the 9 year old, ragged teddy bear that he got when he was born. "Go get your toothbrush and toothpaste hunny, and grab mommies as well." She said, stepping out of the doorway and into his room, taking a seat on his bed as she rubbed her bruised, sprained ribs. Izuku let out a small 'okay' and made his way towards the bathroom. He grabbed his and his mother's toothbrush and opened the mirror cabinet to grab a tube of toothpaste, then made his way back to his room. "Got them." He said, shoving the toothbrushes and toothpaste in the front pocket of his suitcase. "Great. I have to go get my own suitcase, then we'll leave. So you come with me." She said, wincing as she stood up and made her way out of his room and down the hallway to her own. Izuku let the suitcase drag across the floor but his mother promptly snapped at him and told him to pick it up./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He watched as his mother packed away her things, then as she crouched down in front of a safe sitting on the wooden floor beside her and her husband's wardrobe. He couldn't see what she was doing, but he knew what was in the safe, as his mother and father had had a huge shouting match about it one night when he was trying to sleep. His mother had refused to let his father keep it in the house unless it was under lock and key. And sure enough, when she turned around it was with a fully loaded glock 42 in one hand and a box of ammo in another. Which made Izuku's eyes grow wide, even though he knew what was coming, as he hoped it was something else. "M- Mom…" He whispered, watching her put both the box of ammo and gun in her purse, which she had grabbed from the nightstand by her and Izuku's father's bed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's just for protection sweetheart." She whispered back, as not to gain the attention of her husband, even though the TV was blaring from the living room now and he probably wouldn't have been able to hear./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""But mom…" He muttered, causing another frown to adorn his mother's face./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It doesn't really matter Izu, come on." She said, gesturing to the fire escape outside her window./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku huffed but made his way towards the fire escape anyway./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His mother opened the window and he crawled out, then she passed him his suitcase and made her way out as well./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They made their way down the stairs easily enough, and when they reached the bottom his mother let out a sigh of relief./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They had always gotten this far before, and his mother always had the same reaction, though she had never brought the gun./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Where are we going mom?" Izuku asked as they walked to the bus stop, noticing now the way his mother limped as she walked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're going to a motel tonight, but maybe your aunt's house tomorrow, when I can actually talk to her." She said, taking a seat at the bus stop, eyes never leaving the apartment building's only entrance and exit, as if Izuku's father would come barging out of the structure at any moment, then publicly humiliate her. "But won't dad know to go to Aunt Mitsuki's house?" Izuku asked, dreading the thought of seeing Kacchan./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He won't," She said, digging through her purse for her bus pass./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He did last time."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku's mother snapped her head in his direction, and she growled a small "Shut up and sit down."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He lowered his head and stared at the ground for a moment before sitting down on the small bench inside the shelter./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku heard sirens off in the distance, approaching at a quick pace. They were probably there to collect the body of the unknown man who jumped off of the building. He thought he heard an ambulance too, but if they wanted to save him, they should have come before he jumped. Maybe if Izuku wasn't so selfish and was only thinking about children and what their home lives were like- drowning himself in self-pity, he might have caught the man earlier and been able to call for help. Maybe if he wasn't so stupid and thought there was no way the man would jump only because he'd been up there before, he could have ran to the balcony sooner, and called out to him. But no. He was dumb and self-centered, and now a man was dead./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku stared down at his hands for a few moments before bus number 6 came rolling to a stop in front of them and the other people placed around the bus stop. He didn't know if it was their bus, as he had never paid much attention to the numbers prior to now, so he hesitated to stand up, but when his mother stood up from the bench, he knew it was the right one./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His mother got on with Izuku then showed the bus driver her pass. Once on, his mother apologized for snapping at him and they rode past 16 stops, a total of 55 minutes, until they reached the edge of the city. "We're here." His mother said, getting up and grabbing her suitcase. Izuku did the same and they both walked out of the bus and onto the sidewalk. This was a shoddy part of the city, so when strange looking men started cat-calling Izuku's mother, he wasn't all too surprised. Afterall, it happened last time they had come here as well. They walked for what felt like forever, but was really only 20 or so minutes. Soon enough, they reached the motel they had stayed in a few times prior to now, and Izuku couldn't help but think about his father coming in the middle of the night, wielding a baseball bat, threatening the workers and forcing them to tell him which room the woman and male child were staying in, then coming into their room whilst they were sleeping and beating his mother with the bat until she complied to coming home. Last time, he broke Izuku's mother's arm while she held it up to protect her face./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Inko!" A very ugly looking man, Hotaru Hirai was his name, said loudly, drawing the attention of the other worker in the room, who was busy cleaning at the moment. "Hello Hirai." She replied as happily as she could with a smile across her face, something Izuku rarely ever got to see. He thought she looked stunning like that, even if it was fake, and wished she would stay that way forever. But it never lasted. As soon as Izuku's father was back in the picture, a permanent frown was worn across Inko's beautiful face./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lookin' to stay the night?" Hotaru asked, and Inko nodded./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Okay." He said as Izuku clung to his mother's petite figure, watching Hotaru pull a key off the wall./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Room 12." He said./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I- Is there any way I could have a different room? I was in that room the last time, and I'd like to change it up a bit." She said with a smile./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""O' course. Anything for you Inko." He said and Izuku smiled, something he rarely did as well. He knew Hotaru wouldn't tell his father which room they were in, that was one thing he liked about the man. Maybe the only thing, as he was always flirting with his mother and trying to convince her to divorce Izuku's father. It's not that he didn't want that, it's just, Hotaru was doing it for his own personal gain, trying to get her to marry him instead… as if!/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob handed her a different key and told her the room number, 4, and they were on their way. "Meet me at the restaurant across the street tonight at 10:00?" Hotaru told more than asked Inko as she put the key in her purse./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""A little later than when we usually meet, but sure, as always." She replied back with a wink, grabbing her luggage with one hand and Izuku's left hand with her other./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Come on sweetie." She said, dragging him along./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Once they got to the motel room, Inko fished around in her purse for the key she had just put in there and unlocked the door with it. There was a TV stand, but no TV, a phone line with no phone to be seen, and 2 beds with no sheets./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not again…" Izuku's mother moaned, putting her suitcase in the doorway and her purse on the left nightstand "I'll be right back, hun." She said, leaving the small room and shutting the door behind her. Izuku sighed and laid down on the right bed (the one closest to the door), feet dangling off the side and arms stretched out wide. He waited approximately 10 minutes before a worker and his mother came into the motel room carrying 2 sets of sheets and covers. "Move Izu." She said, pulling him up and away from the bed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The worker handed the 1 set of sheets and 1 cover belonging to the bed on the right (as his mother was currently putting the covers on the right bed) then said goodbye and left, but not before his mother could thank her for helping carrying the sheets. Once the door was shut though, his mother complained that she didn't even put the sheets and cover on the bed./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku bet that the woman would complain about not getting tipped, too./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What are we going to do, mom?" Izuku asked, looking around the room for something to do, and spotting the alarm clock on the left side nightstand, which read 7:47./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You could watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles~." She responded happily. She was always bubbly after leaving his father. It made him wonder if she would have been truly happy if she had just never met Hisashi (Izuku's father) and had a son she probably never wanted. "Yeah, okay." He said, waiting for her to hand him her phone so he could watch Netflix. "Here you go." She said, phone in hand and arm outstretched in his direction. "Thanks." He replied with a grunt as he laid down on the bed and the wind was knocked out of him. He laid there for a good episode and a half when there was a knock on the door, causing his mother to visibly tense. "W- Who is it?" She called out standing up and walking to the door./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You know who it is, Inko." A ragged voice from behind the door called out./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shot Izuku a questioning look and he gave her a shrug. It definitely wasn't his father. "Hirai?" He whispered, as it did sound like him, which made her relax a bit. She got up and walked to the door delicately, as she always did, and opened it./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ah, Hirai, it is you."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who else would it be? The boogeyman?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're not far off, but it doesn't matter, because you never know," She laughed a little and Izuku could tell that it too, was fake. "And I haven't heard your voice enough to know for sure who it was." She said, punching him lightly, causing him to smile. "Well, anyway, I forgot to get your signature, could you just come with me for a moment?" He asked, and she nodded her head slowly. "I just need to grab my purse."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You won't need it." He said and she gave him a sad smile./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Like I said, you never know." She said then added, "I need my jacket too, it's cold out there." and grabbed that along with her purse, then walked out. Little did Izuku know, that would be the last time he'd ever see her alive./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Be right back hun." She called out from behind the closed door, then walked off with Hotoru./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was around 20 minutes when Inko came back, Izuku was in the bathroom taking a shower when he heard yelling coming from the room just beyond the door. "Mom?" He yelled, turning the water off and listening intently./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No! We will NOT!" His mother screamed, and Izuku could hear something scraping against the wooden floors./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then there was muffled yelling, which he recognized as his father's, and more shouting from his mother, but he could no longer tell what she was saying because she was so hysterical. Izuku got out of the shower when the yelling from his mother stopped, and wrapped a towel around his waist./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What's going on mom?" Izuku asked and put his hand on the doorknob, turned it, then pushed the door open with a loud creak./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No! Stay in there hunny!" She yelled and immediately he pulled the door closed again. He listened to the sounds of his mother's sobbing as he put on his shirt then underwear, she uttered a simple sorry to him as he was about to pull up his pants and the sound of a gun cocking rang through the room. Terror flooded through Izuku as the image of his mother in an orange jumpsuit sitting in a courtroom flashed across his mind's eye." Mom! Don't!" he yelled, but It was too late as the ear-piercing sound of gunfire rang through the room. Funny. He hadn't heard her open the door. He quickly pulled up his pants and swung open the door, only to see his mother laying in a pool of her own blood, blankets strewn across the room and a bed pushed up against the door, which was locked. "...Mom?..." Izuku asked, tears filling up the space in his eyes./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What the fuck was that Inko?! Huh?!" Hisashi yelled from the other side of the door./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izuku began to sob and his father's screaming became more and more intense. "Izuku? Open this fucking door right now!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And so he pushed (with much effort, due to his little body) the bed aside and unlocked the door. His father gasped once the door opened and he shoved Izuku aside roughly./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Inko?" He mumbled, leaning down and pressing a hand to the side of her face. "Inko, wake up!" He screamed and Izuku tried his hardest to stop sobbing. "You did this to her." He whispered between hiccups, causing his father to look up and turn around./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What did you say? You little goddamn brat."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I said, 'You did this to her'." He repeated, glaring at his father, who raised a hand and slapped Izuku so hard, it made his head spin and he was flung to the ground. And that was the first time his father hit him, but it certainly wasn't the last./span/p 


	2. Chapter 2

So, I'm in the middle of reading the bnha school briefs and apparently the correct translation for Shoto's and Bakugo's name is just that- Shoto and Bakugo (Though I don't think that's the correct spelling). It's hard changing the spelling after all this time. TT^TT Anyway, as I said in the first chapter of this series on Ao3 but forgot to put on Wattpad and Fanfiction, is that this was an original work, so I'm sorry if the names are different, Originally the main character who is Izuku now was Nathan, Shoto was Gabriel, and had only two siblings, Aquila and Jacob. But now it's Shouto (….oop, see? Not even gonna fix that) so, since he has three siblings, there are now three!

(Shoto's P.O.V.)

Tap tap tap.

"All the good love, When we're all alone." My father sang out with the music from the radio, much to the displeasure of myself, Toya, Natsuo, and Fuyumi.

"Keep it up girl, Yeah, you turn me on."

"Dad," Toya said from the front passenger side seat, annoyance clear in his tone.

"I..., I'm hooked on a feeling,"

"Dad…" He said again.

"I'm high on believing."

"Dad!" He yelled this time, causing my father to stop his tapping on the wheel and singing at once.

"What? I'm just expressing myself through the music." He winked at Toya, who let out a sigh.

"Oh my God." He moaned, earning a smile from my father.

"Since when do you believe in God?" He asked, making me smirk a bit, as Toya hated talking about religion.

"Drop it." He said, glance returning out the window.

The car was silent for mere moments before Fuyumi spoke up. "When will we be there? We've been driving for hours now." She groaned, as she always got sick when riding in any type of vehicle for too long.

"We're almost there, hold on a bit longer hunny." Dad said, and I looked over at Fuyumi, who was pale and sweaty, hands shaking slightly as she pulled her long, white with flecks of red hair back from in front of her light, grey eyes. "Why don't you lay down? I don't mind if you put your head in my lap." I said, watching her turn her head in my direction and frown. "Why don't you mind your own damn business?" She barked and I sighed. She was never like this, really, she was just sick is all. "Dad, I'm gonna hurl." She said, putting a hand over her mouth and holding back the vomit that threatened to force its way up her throat. "Natsuo, hand her the bucket from the trunk." Dad said, eyeing him in the rear-view mirror. "Sure thing." Natsuo said, twisting his body around and reaching his hand behind the seats and into the trunk, grabbing the green bucket that sat atop the luggage bags and suitcases. "Here," He said, handing it to Aquila, who was sitting on the other side of me.

"Thanks." She said, burying her face in the bucket then gagging a few times. Finally, after moments of dry heaving and gagging, she threw up, which clouded the pine-fresh air of the car with its stench. Toya gagged and rolled down his window, and Natsuo did the same. Minus the gagging of course. Toya is Natsuo, Fuyumi and my older brother, but he certainly doesn't act like it. I'm the youngest, but, unlike Toya, I act like at least one of the middle children. Fuyumi on the other hand, well, she's too mature for her own well-being. And Natsuo, the second youngest child acts pretty normal, a little mature but a little immature at times. We get along pretty well for siblings, even though Toya has a different father, but not even he knows who it is. According to my dad, our mother and his father were in an abusive relationship, and one day, his father beat our pregnant mother so badly that she almost died, and Toya, who was in the womb at the time, almost died too. The cop who saved her was Natsuo, Fuyumi and my father, a cop who took both my mother and Toya in right after he was born. Not even a year and a month later, Fuyumi was brought into the world, 14 months later Natsuo was born, then 13 months after that, so was I. But, our mother died nearly 5 years ago from an opioid OD, as my father had no idea she was still suffering with her addiction, if he did, well, she wouldn't have got the chance to overdose. I was only 11 at the time. She had been hospitalized and in rehab for most of my life, but it hurt nonetheless.I couldn't help thinking about her at least once a day. As I was now, but I was snapped out of my thoughts by my father talking excitedly. "We're here!" He said loudly, and I could practically feel Toya's eye roll.

"Great." Toya said, opening his door and getting out. We all followed suit and stretched out after the 3 hours and a half of being confined to sitting in that old car 2-door car, which barely had enough space for the driver and passenger, let alone the 3 seats and passengers in the back. "Ah, smell that fresh air guys," Dad said mid stretch.

"Yeah, downtown Musutafu. Delightfully fresh city air that is." Natsuo said whilst Fuyumi looked so happy to be out of the car it wouldn't have surprised me if she kissed the ground. "Oh come on guys, lighten up, we're living close to all the resources you need, and I don't have to drive you to school anymore, you can take the bus, so you no longer have to suffer your friends seeing the horrific sight of your loving father." He said, laughing a little at his own joke.

"Great, the bus." Toya moaned, opening the trunk and grabbing his luggage.

"Try to be a little more positive Toya." Dad smiled, walking towards the trunk to get his own luggage.

A little more positive? Huh?... Making new friends, going to a new school, coming out all over again…

I sighed and grabbed my two huge suitcases, trying to be mindful of the towbar that connected the car to the big metal box with wheels that carried all of our furniture. I grabbed my luggage and tried to step over the latch, but ended up tripping and falling on my face, blood beginning to gush from my nose as I couldn't put my hands out to protect myself fast enough.

Yeah, this was going to be a blast.

The first few days of school came and went by fast enough as we had spent a week couped up in the house not doing anything, so when the time for school came, I couldn't have been happy enough, Natsuo had already made 3 friends while Fuyumi made I don't even know how many, and on the other hand, I had made none. Toya didn't go to school, as he was 21, and instead worked at McDonald's. It was our 4th day of school and I was standing at the bus stop, bag thrown over my shoulder weighing me down heavily (as it was filled with all kinds of books), as Fuyumi and Natsuo stood talking with their new friends, when I was met with an unfamiliar face, one that wasn't here the past few days. He walked towards the bus stop with a slight limp, he wore blue jeans and a red hoodie, and had dark green hair that looked almost black in some places with beautiful, deep green eyes, though I couldn't tell this until he got nearer. He looked to be around 4 or 5 inches shorter than me, so he must have been either 5'4" or 5'5", and he was very, very thin. HE also looked to be a bit younger than a highschooler, kohai or not. I also noticed he had the fading away marks of a black eye and split lip. "Hello," I said as he walked up and stood beside me, but he didn't say anything back, he just stood there, cowering at the sound of my voice. I had the urge to hold him then, as he looked like he needed a hug. He was pretty hot too, in a plain kind of way, minus the sunken cheeks and bags under his eyes. He took a step away from me and straightened up a bit after me not talking for a solid 3 minutes. 2 minutes after that, the bus suddenly pulled up and I sighed with relief, as the situation was awkward after all. Fuyumi and her new friends got on along with Natsuo and his, I followed close behind, but when I glanced back I noticed that the boy had not moved from his spot at all. So maybe he wasn't a highschooler.

"Midoriya~." I heard someone call from the open window as I got on. "Come on Midoriya, are you afraid or something? Let's go." A very large boy with a round, chubby face called out the window to the boy.

So that's why he wasn't getting on. I took a seat on the opposite side of what was going on and the bus driver let out a frustrated, "Get on or I'm leaving without you boy."

I settled in my seat and no less than 10 seconds later the boy, Midoriya, got on. He took the first open seat near the front of the bus and I sighed as the bigger kid got out of his seat and headed towards Midoriya, though at this point I had turned my head away and started watching the cars speed along side the bus with mild interest. 11 minutes passed and we finally reached the school. I got up from my seat and noticed that Midoriya was now shoved against the side of the bus and window as the chubby boy was pushed into the seat as far as he could possibly go. I wondered if this was an everyday occurance and suddenly I felt bad for Midoriya, but as my day continued on, I forgot about him. It wasn't until that night when I was walking down Miyusu street (The street I live on), when I looked up at the Fumiwa bridge and saw a boy or girl (it was hard to tell in the dark and from so far away) with their feet dangling off the side of the closed bridge that I remembered him, because as I ran up the street and through the ticket booths to stop the person after a good 7 minutes of rushing towards them, and he turned his head to face me, running up the bridge and panting hard, I realized; it was him.

(Izuku's P.O.V.)

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock beeping beside me. I let out a sigh at being alive, but remembered today was the day, and I pictured myself falling from the top of the bridge and into the water below painlessly, which put a smile on my face. A slight one, but a smile nonetheless. One more horrid day on the unfortunate planet and it would all be over. I turned my alarm clock off and hopped out of bed, going to my closet and pulling out the only two sweaters I had. I picked the slightly less ratty red one, which only had a few holes in the bottom, then I pulled open my dresser and picked out a black long sleeved t shirt, a blue pair of underwear, and dark blue skinny jeans that I hadn't worn in a while. This would do. I pulled on the skinny jeans and I noticed they were slightly looser than before. Great. I had lost what little weight I couldn't afford to lose, and as I looked in the mirror, shirtless, at my sunken in stomach and protruding ribs and hip bones I let out a long, displeased sigh (Though, it wasn't as bad as the scars and fresh cuts that littered my upper arms). When was the last time I ate? I wondered. Oh, that's right, 2 days ago when my father made me sit in his lap and beg for food as his erection pressed up against me. ...When Mom was around, I didn't look like this. Sure, sometimes I went hungry, but never like this. My stomach growling nearly every minute I mean.

I quickly pulled on a shirt, not wanting to look at myself in the cracked mirror any longer and got ready for school. Just one more long day, I thought peacefully, and this will all be over.

I rushed down the stairs and went into the bathroom, and after taking a piss I washed my hands and went back to the hallway. I peeked into my father's room, which was empty. I checked the couch in the living room, which was empty as well. Good, I can eat this morning.

I quickly pulled open the refrigerator and dug around inside for a moment before grabbing a tupper container full of cooked, cold chicken. I opened the lid and scarfed the contents down as fast as I could, like a starving man… Which I technically was. I took my time washing and putting away the dish and by the time I was done I realized the school bus would be at its stop in around 5 or 10 minutes, so I grabbed 3 chocolate bars from the cubert (out of the pile of what looked like at least 30) and shoved them in my bag then left for the bus stop. As I neared it, I noticed 3 new faces, who knows when they could have started coming, as I had been home for a full school week and a weekend, or seven days if you wanted to be precise, tending to my sick father who wouldn't let me go to school until he got better. It was great, as I hadn't got a real beating in 4 days and I hadn't been well… violated by my father for the full 7 days, minus last night, he had started to feel better yesterday morning, but still made me stay home and tend to him. It was Thursday now, and I was feeling especially good due to thinking about my suicide and actually getting something to eat. And a full chicken breast at that. Putting all that aside though, there were 2 new boys and a girl. The boy on the right had white, spiky hair that came down in two spikes on either side of his face and wore black pants and a white jacket, with grey eyes. The girl had white hair with small strips of red here and there and light grey eyes, and wore blue jeans and a light blue jacket, and the boy on the right had half white half red hair and heterochromatic eyes, one of the most rare eye colours in the world, even rarer than my green eyes. The right was Brown while the left was blue. They were all reasonably attractive, but the heterochromatic-eyed boy was especially so…. Not that I would ever like him like that, as I doubted I could possibly love anyone let alone be in a relationship with anyone after what my father did to me time and time again. "Hello." The boy said to me, and I had to fight the urge to run, fearing what he might do to me if I responded in my too high, wimpy little voice. Just the sight of me set some people off. I curled in on myself slightly, but after a few moments of silence I straightened back up again. No sooner did the bus roll up and Kaito Arei stuck his pudgy little pug-face out of the window, his brown hair coated in sweat, no doubt already smelling like his usual B.O. stench. I stood frozen to the spot for a moment as everyone got on the bus and I noticed the new, brown-blue eyed boy turn his head my way. "Midoriya~." Kaito called out, waving from inside the bus. If I could shrink right now, I would. Kaito never rode the bus, only on days where he was feeling especially in the mood for taunting me. "Come on Midoriya, are you afraid or something? Let's go." He called out and I remained rooted to the spot. "Get on or I'm leaving without you boy." The bus driver yells, the same line he's used before when I wouldn't get on the bus due to Kaito or his gang of asshole-bullies. Nonetheless, I bowed my head and got on. As soon as I took my seat, he came for me. "Hey loser." He said, pushing me up against the window and taking a seat, crushing my leg under his weight. I winced but didn't dare say anything. I definitely wasn't about to do anything, not after the last time I tried to fight back, even just with words. "So fag, you haven't been at school for a while, huh? Since when?... last Thursday?" He grinned. "And I don't remember giving you that fat lip and bruised eye… Did Amino get you?" He asked, feigning sympathy. I nodded as best as I could with the back of my head shoved against the window and Kaito's shit-eating grin returned. "Well, that's what you said last time, and when I told Amino to lay off what was mine, he said he never touched you. Hasn't since I beat the shit out of him before winter break… not that me telling him off would deter him from beating you, you're just so… punchable. But that's besides the point, is your daddy beating you up again, Huh, fag?"

"No. It was really him, he just doesn't what to admit it in fear that you will-" I tried to finish before Jackson grabbed a fist-full of my hair and yanked my head down with it.

"Don't fucking lie to me faggot. Want me to call child protective services and have them take you away from the only family you have?" He questioned a little too loudly for my liking.

"He doesn't, and I couldn't care less if you called child protective services."

"Since when-"

"You'll see soon enough." I interrupted, which only angered him.

"Don't fucking talk over me, little bitch." Says Kaito, pulling harder on my hair before letting go. I stared at him before twisting my head the other direction, to look out the window, and suddenly he pushed himself closer against me, pressing my face up against the window. I sighed and we rode the rest of the way toYuuei Highschool like this. When I got off the bus I smiled though, as I knew this was going to be the last day I had to deal with this. Kaito looked at me and gave me a weird look, probably thinking I had some sort of bully fetish, but walked off without a word. The rest of the day went by like a breeze, I actually got some work done today, my thoughts silent enough for it, but I did occasionally get lost staring at the new guy, whom I avoided all day, and availed, as I was sure he never noticed me, even though we were in the same class. On the bus ride home I got lucky and the new boy, the white haired one, who didn't know what a freak I was sat beside me as his 2 other friends sat across in the seats opposite to these ones. Kaito took one look at this boy's 5'11", well built frame and must have decided against bullying him out of the seat, as he didn't come up and ask for it or try to kick him out or whatever. This was turning out to be such an amazing day, I thought. Minus this morning of course. But other than that, amazing. I got off at my stop but didn't go home, I was directly behind The hot new kid, but I don't think he noticed me. Not that I wanted a new bully. Though, he didn't really look like the type. He had Kind, gentle eyes, and I could only picture the warm-hearted smile he put on this morning when I thought of him. But you never really know, even the nice ones were complete assholes to me, for they knew if they were nice, they too would fall victim to Jackson and his crew. But that wasn't relevant. I got off the bus and started my hour long trip to the Mcdonalds on Sekki Street East. When I finally got there I took a seat at one of the tables and pulled out the 1 remaining chocolate bar that I had from this morning. It was an O'Henry, and though I hadn't downed anything as fast as I had the chicken from the morning, I still ate it at a pretty remarkable speed, as I typically always did when I got any kind of food, though I should have savoured it, as it was probably the last thing I'd ever get to eat. I spent about 5 hours sitting there doing nothing but people watching until I saw the clock on the wall strike 10:00pm on the dot. I got up and started making my way to the bridge, by the time I got there it would be closed. "I'll see you soon, mom." I whispered as I exited the establishment and began my trek down the snow covered sidewalk. It had rained a little during the time I had spent in Mcdonald's, making the streets and sidewalk sleek with ice and slippery. It took an hour and a half, longer than I remembered it taking, but I was also a lot weaker than when I had last walked this path. I made it to the bridge and passed the toll booths. I walked for about a minute before putting my backpack straps on each arm and picking a spot on the bridge to jump. I didn't even notice the tears that built up in my eyes as I climbed over the railing and took a seat on the thin railing, which kind of hurt my butt, but whatever. I thought about all the times my father beat me, raped me, and I thought about my mom. I was sobbing freely at this point, the salty tears making their way into my mouth, and I stood from the railing and let go with one hand, the other still clinging tightly to the railing. Then I heard the sound of hard footsteps against the ground coming towards me at a fast pace. I turned my head and saw that it was the more than average looking kid coming towards me and I fought the urge to let go right then and there, not wanting to traumatize the poor kid. "W- What do you want?" I asked him and he smiled. "Oh, so you do talk," He replied with a smile and I grasped the railing with my other hand. "Are you gonna jump?" He asked, a look of what I might have thought was real concern. "Yeah. ...So?" I said, looking down at the street far below me.

"You must have something to live for, come on, why don't you come to the other side of that railing?" He asked me, and I laughed dryly. "No." I responded simply, and his gaze turned to the ground then at me. "'No', you don't have anything to live for or 'no', you won't come from the other side of that railing?" He questioned, a quizzical look on top of the concerned one.

"Both." I responded.

"Nothing, huh?"

"Nope."

"Friends?"

"0."

"Family?"

"Definitely not."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's really none of your business." I said, twisting around farther as he walked closer to my back.

"Make it my business."

"No."

"Okay, well, how about yourself?"

"What?

"Can't you live for yourself?"

"I don't deserve to."

"Why not? We all deserve to live, maybe some more than others, but still." He said, eyeing my hands nervously

"I mean; I don't deserve to have to keep on living. It's not fair that I've had to up until now. I didn't really do anything to deserve this."

"You're clearly sad about this."

"But I'm not." Where had this bold attitude come from?

"You're crying."

"I was thinking about something else." I defended myself.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, how about I give you something to live for?" Says the boy and a blush makes its way across my face.

"What do you mean? You wanna go out with me or something? Gross, I'm not gay."

A hurt look flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a cocky one. "I meant I would be your friend." He said, then made a weird face. "And for your information, I am gay, but I'm not gross." he said.

The blush on my face deepened and I apologized profusely to him. He laughed it off and said it was fine before moving closer to me "Come on, at least give me a try." He said, reaching out a hand and after a moment of thinking, I climbed over the railing and shook it. "But you'll change your mind." I told him and he shook his head.

"You could be the rudest person in the world, and I still don't think I'd just abandon you in your time of need." He said, "Oh, and my name is Shoto, Shoto Todoroki." He added happily, stringing an arm around my shoulder playfully. "You'll regret this." I said and he just smiled. "That's what you think."


	3. Chapter 3

(Izuku's P.O.V.)

I stood at the end of my driveway wearily, watching my father's shadow pace back and forth in the kitchen, occasionally taking swigs from an unknown bottle. I turned back to see the kid who convinced me to not kill myself's house, where just moments ago he had entered, and he would not be there to save me when I finally decide to enter my own house. Not that I'd want to put anyone through meeting my father, especially now that he's drunk (which was always a source of fear for me). I let out a long sigh and began forcing my legs to carry me up the driveway and to the front of the house. "Goddamnit." I muttered as I froze at the door, hand hovering over the knob. "Come on, it's just a beating, you've had plenty of those before, right?" I tried to console myself. "Come on…" I whispered, shaking.

"Come on." I said this time.

"COME ON!" I screamed at myself and finally placed my hand on the knob, twisted it and then pushed the door open.

"Izuku? Is that you?" I heard my father slur from the kitchen, and suddenly my voice became caught in my throat. Trembling, I tried to call out 'yes, dad' but all that came out was a strange muffled sound. Finally my father came into sight, his eyes narrowing when they landed on me. "Where the fuck have you been? Your curfew was 2 and a half hours ago, you stupid fucking brat." My father says.

"I- I know… I'm s- sorry if I worried yo- you…" I stammered out, taking a step back and out the door. I wanted to sprint right then and there, but where the Hell would I go? To that kids house? What would he do? Probably tell me to fuck off, then my dad would beat me worse than he would if I had just stayed there in the first place.

Why was I so stupid? I wondered as my father grabbed me by the wrist harshly and pulled me inside.

"Worried me? Are you st- st- st- stupid?" My father mocked, slamming the door shut.

"IT'S 11 FUCKING 30, YOU FUCKING PIG!" He screamed in my face, spittle flying from his mouth and landing on my face.

I didn't even have time to think about wiping it off before I was on the floor as my father kicked me in the ribs over and over again. I heard a small crack from inside me and knew one if not more of them had been broken. "Stop!" I cried, which just caused him to kick harder.

"Stop!" I screamed again, but to no avail.

"Shut up or there will be more punishment, fuckwit."

My father laughed as he saw tears begin to leak from my eyes, and he called me a pussy for crying (even though I wasn't, and hadn't for a long time from one of his beatings) and then picked me up by the collar of my sweater. He pushed his lips against mine, and the taste of whisky filled my mouth as he defiled me with his tongue. I went limp in his hold and I could feel my sweater tearing at the seams as my whole 82 pounds of body weight pulled against my father's iron grip. My father finally pulled away after what felt like forever and I fell to the ground in a heap. "Get the fuck up and get to bed, I'll be there in a minute." My father said and I tried my hardest to pull myself together and get up. I made my way up the stairs and into my room and I got out of my clothes, following the routine my father had taught me. I sat, slump-shouldered on my bed and waited, massaging my bruised and broken ribs, which hurt like hell, but it wasn't more than I could handle. My memory flashed back to when my mother did the same on this exact bed but in our old apartment in the city. I couldn't take it anymore, thinking of her always brought tears to my eyes. A small sob escaped passed my lips and I looked up at the ceiling "Why did you leave me like this mom? Why did you leave me with him?" I cried, rocking back and forth. "WHY?!" I screamed this time, feeling the tears stream down my face. "I loved you. ... " Was the last thing I managed to get out before my father's footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs and the door opened soon after.

"Ready, my precious? Get on your hands and knees." My father said and I did so. And within the next moment he was on top of me.

(Shoto's P.O.V.)

"Shoto!" Someone shouted and I opened my bleary eyes, seeing my older brother Natsuo standing over me, hands on my shoulder from shaking me in my sleep.

"What?" I managed to get out.

"It's almost time for school, you idiot. Get up." He said, and pulled the covers off of me.

"Fuck Natsuo, fuck off!" I yelled, trying to grab the covers from him, but to no avail.

He laughed at me and reached out a hand, which I hesitated to grab but did nonetheless within a matter of seconds.

"Why didn't my alarm go off? And even if it didn't, why are you getting me up and not Fuyumi?" I asked, and he smirked.

"Well, 1) the power went out last night, and 2) I just wanted to do something nice for my bro, so I asked Fuyumi if I could get you up." He responded

"Shut up, you just wanted to piss me off first thing in the morning." I guessed, and his small smirk turned into a grin.

"You got it!" He said, laughing out loud at my not-so-much-of-a-revelation.

I sighed and pushed him out of the room, not wanting to change infront of him. I was really subconscious lately, as I had put on a bit of fat instead of muscle from not exercising as much as I used to and over-doing it with the sweet treats. I still had my 6-pack though, that hadn't changed. I pulled on my fresh clothes and got ready for school, eating breakfast, packing my bag, saying goodbye to Toya, who didn't go to work until this afternoon... that kind of stuff. When I finally made my way out the door I heard screaming coming from down and across the street. It was Midoriya's father yelling in his face.

"You piece of shit! Don't come home tonight, you got that?! Huh?! HUH?!" I heard him yell as Midoriya cowered in fear. I saw his mouth move, but couldn't make out what he said from so far away. Midoriya sauntered off calmly and I called out his name. He turned around and I told him to wait up. He did, and we walked to the bus stop together.

"What was your father so mad about Midori?" I asked and he gave me a face.

"Nothing too important TODO." He replied and I cringed.

"Okay, I totally get why you gave me that face, if you don't call me Todo, I won't call you Midori."

"Sounds good to me." He said, smirking.

"So really, what was your father so mad about?"

"That I was late coming home last night." He informed me.

"Oh, was he asleep when you got there?... Also… you didn't tell him about… you know what?"

"No and no."

"Then why is he only mad at you now?"

"Because he was too drunk to care last night… well, that's not true… but, well, ...I don't really know?"

"What did he do last night?" I asked, making his face pale.

"He just yelled, is all…" And suddenly I was aware of his limp, which was worse than the day previous to this one.

"Midoriya, did he… does he… hurt you?" I asked and I watched as a laugh escaped past Midoriya's plump, perfect lips… Stop thinking like that! I mentally slapped myself.

"No, why?

"You're limping worse than you were yesterday." I told him

"Oh, that... I uh, I have plantar fasciitis." He blushed.

"What the hell is Planters fasciitis?"

"Plantar." He corrected me as we reached the bus stop, Natsuo and Fuyumi coming up right behind us.

"Oh Shoto, you made a friend, I noticed from a distance, but thought it was too good to be true." Fuyumi remarked.

"Shut up, of course I made a friend."

"Of course you did, Sho-y." Natsuo mocked in a puppy-dog or baby voice.

"Jesus, leave us alone." I sneered, slapping the hand he was about to put on my shoulder away.

"Okay, okay… but may I at least introduce myself to him?"

"Do it quickly, we were talking about something important."

"Okay," Natsuo said quietly. "My name is Todoroki Natsuo, and this is Todoroki Fuyumi, I am the third oldest in the family, besides our dad of course. And I'm also the best sibling, if it isn't too obvious already." He smiled, reaching out a hand, waiting for it to be shaken. Midoriya glanced over at me then at Natsuo's hand then me again. I shook my head 'yes', and he immediately shook it. "N- Nice to m- meet you…I'm Midoriya." He stammered out slowly, staring at the ground instead of Natsuo Fuyumi, or even me.

"Yeah…" Natsuo said, eyeing him cautiously after realizing how timid he was.

"Anyway, what's planters fasciitis?" I asked and his head whipped around to face mine.

"It's 'plantar', you big idiot." He said and I laughed.

"Okay, what's 'plantar' fasciitis?"

"It's a disorder of the feet, it has something to do with the connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot and the arch being too high, it's really painful, that's why I limp. It's not constant, but it is there most of the time." He said, and I noticed the way he scratched at his inner left arm and stared at the ground. Could he be lying? Oh well, it's best to just leave it alone instead of continuing to pry. We continued to talk and after a while a couple of Natsuo and Fuyumi's friends along with a couple of other people showed up, sporting worried looking faces. They gathered around each other and whispered quietly, there were 5 of them, and they talked one at a time, but I still couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.

"Uhh… Todorokis'?" can we talk to you over here for a minute?" One of the boys that were friends with Fuyumi and Natsuo asked quietly and as we each gave a small nod Midoriya looked down at the ground and I told him I'd be back in a second, I said I didn't know what it was about, but said I would be sure not to be long, which he replied with 'I know what it's about.' as I walked away from him.

"Listen, Midoriya's a great kid, he is but…" A girl who looked to be in my grade (9) said

"But, if you don't want to become a target for bullies, I'd suggest you stay away from him…" A boy finished for the girl in a low whisper.

"Listen, thanks for the warning and all, but I found this kid on the verge of killing-... uhh… well…"

"On the verge of killing what?" Someone asked.

"It's not important."

"Oh so he was trying to kill something?... See what I mean? He's crazy. I told you Yuko, I told you!" A girl said to who I could only assume was 'Yuko'.

"No, listen, I said it's not important, but anyway, I'm not going to just, abandon him because some asshole kids are going to try to get me. I'm probably stronger than them anyway."

"Stronger than Bakugo? I doubt it." The girl who looked to be in my grade whispered back.

"Who cares?" I muttered, turning away only to see Midoriya limping in the opposite direction.

"Midoriya! Midoriya!" I yelled out, dropping my bag and running forward towards him.

He turned back and stared at me for a moment before turning back around and continuing to slowly limp away.

"Midoriya! Seriously!" I shouted, then finally caught up with him.

"What do you want? Hmm? I'm guessing they tried to scare you off, telling you what a freak I am, saying you'd get beat up if you so much as said a simple 'hello' to me in the morning. I told you you'd regret it."

"Midoriya, I'm sorry they're douchebags, but I already told you, I'm not leaving you behind." I assured him, and he stared at me with a look of pure shock written all over his face, which changed back to his usual blank stare within a millisecond "Whatever, I'm telling you, You'll change your mind sooner or later." He said and I grasped his upper left arm, but seeing the wince on his face made me release it instantly.

"What's wrong with your arm?" I asked him, and he told me it was from Kaito pushing him up against the bus window yesterday. I then shook my head and grabbed his other arm and pulled him back to the bus stop, and no sooner did the bus come, before Natsuo and Fuyumi had the chance to say they too would become Midoriya's friends, because though I didn't know what they would say to him, I could see what they wanted to written all over their faces.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so, I am re-posting this on Archive of our own with a co-author. I will still be posting the un-edited chapters here and on Wattpad as well as AO3, but the edited versions will only be on AO3. Check it out once it comes out!

(Shouto's P.O.V)

The first four periods went by fast enough, as I sat beside Midoriya for each class and kept throwing fairly crude jokes his way, which we both laughed at happily, though the smile on Midoriya's face never seemed to reach his eyes. Then after Math it was lunch. Midoriya and I joined Natsuo and Fuyumi for the time we had for the period and after a few minutes of eating I turned to Midoriya to ask him about what Natsuo was talking about and realized he had no lunch. "Midoriya? Aren't you hungry?" I asked and he turned himself to face me, taking his chin out of the palm of his hand. "Not really…" He said and a mere few seconds later his stomach growled loudly. "Your stomach seems to disagree." Fuyumi smiled, watching him carefully as I wondered if maybe he had an eating disorder. That would explain why he was so thin.

"Don't you have a lunch?" Natsuo asked, frowning.

"No, I don't…" Midoriya said and I scooted closer to him.

"You can have some of mine, if you want." I said.

"Yeah, you can have some of mine too." Fuyumi added and there was silence as me and Fuyumi stared at Natsuo for about a moment.

"What? I'm a growing boy, I need my food. All of it." He said and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Here." Fuyumi said, grabbing a napkin and putting half of her Teriyaki chicken on it and I did the same.

"R- Really?" Midoriya asked, smiling in what I thought might have been a sincere way.

"Yeah, of course!" Fuyumi said happily, and Natsuo groaned.

"Fine, here." Natsuo said, ripping off some of his salmon.

"Thanks!" Midoriya said, biting into a warmed from the microwave in the cafeteria piece of salmon.

"No problem." I mumbled, staring at him and the cute smile he had plastered across his face.

"You're welcome." Fuyumi and Natsuo said in unison, with smiles of their own.

It only took maybe a whole minute before Midoriya was done eating. "Jeez-us, you sure scarfed that down." Natsuo said with a small laugh and Midoriya laughed as well. "I haven't eaten anything but chocolate bars in a whole day and a few hours, I mean, I had chicken for breakfast yesterday, but..." Midoriya said and I smiled at his timidness. It was cute.

"Chicken for breakfast?... weird… anyway, I never caught your first name." Natsuo said, breaking me out of my trance while staring at Midoriya.

"It's Izuku." He said, wiping the leftover teriyaki sauce off his face. He looked a little sick and clutched his stomach, but I didn't think much of it at the time.

"That's such a cute name." Fuyumi beamed.

"Y- You think so?" Izuku smiled shyly.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, moving aside from all that gay shit," Natsuo blurted out. "Why were you fighting with your father this morning?" He asked.

"Well, I just got home late last night 'tis all."

"Oh? Why were you home so late?" He questioned him, and I saw Izuku's face go pale.

"Uh, I was just, um…"

"He was out with me, actually." I stated.

"You didn't get home until like… 11:30pm last night. Where could you possibly have been?"

"Just walking." I explained to him.

"For 2 hours?" Fuyumi asked and I looked over to Izuku, only to see him gulp and twist his head in my direction, a pure 'please-don't-tell-them-anything' look on his face.

"Y- Yeah." I said, and both Fuyumi and Natsuo were looking at me with curious faces.

"Why did you look at each other like that?" Fuyumi glanced questioningly at me and Izuku.

"Listen, it doesn't matter, just…" I tried to say.

"Can we please talk about something else? I heard Izuku mutter as we all turned to face him.

"Uh, yeah, sure buddy." says Fuyumi.

And so the subject changes to the topic of books… and movies (for Natsuo's sake), and the whole ordeal gets forgotten about, that is, until later that day.

"Shoto," Natsuo says as we enter our house and take off our shoes.

"Yeah?"

"What were you and Midoriya doing out so late last night? For real?" Natsuo asks, looking a little concerned.

"It's really none of your business." I told him.

"Sure, sure, but if you don't want me to, say, tell dad you weren't back until so late last night, and 30 minutes past your curfew nonetheless, you'll tell me."

"Listen," I said "Izuku will be back from talking to that girl at the bus stop any minute now, so why don't you ask him when he gets here?" I glared

"Because I asked you."

"It's not my secret to tell."

"Oh, so it's a secret now is it?"

"Yes!" I yelled in his face and he backed up a little. Not because he was intimidated, but because I was taking up his space.

"No need to get angry guys." Fuyumi told us.

"'Guys'?! It's this asshole who's getting angry, not me." He said, folding his arms over his chest and pouting.

"Okay, Shouto, calm down." She said and there was a knock on the door.

"Guys? It's me, Midoriya." He said through the slightly open crack in the door. I stepped away from Natsuo and grabbed the handle of the door (as I was closest) and pulled it open.

"Hey Midoriya." I said as he stepped inside.

"Hey." He responded.

I looked over to Natsuo to see if he was going to say anything about what happened last night, but he seemed to have moved on.

Izuku carefully took off his nearly completely torn apart shoes and placed them beside mine. I stared at them for a second before Izuku waved his hand in front of my face, as if I was zoned out (which I guess I was).

"So what are we gonna do?" Izuku asked patiently, fidgeting with his hands.

"Well, we could watch TV, or play video games in my room, or We cou-" Natsuo started before getting interrupted by a loud bashing of fists against the front door.

"Izuku!? I saw you fucken go in there! Get your ass out here now!"

"Is that your dad?" Natsuo whispered, chancing a glance away from the door and to Izuku, who was staring at the door with a look of pure fear on his face. "Y- yeah, it is." Izuku whimpered.

"Why is he yelling profanities at you?"

"He's probably just still mad about last night…" Izuku muttered.

I turned around and opened the door and was immediately glanced up and down at by Izuku's father, who was very clearly enraged.

"What the fuck are you lookin' at, boy?" Mr. Midoriya growled at me while walking inside and grabbing Izuku by the baggy back of his sweater.

"Well, it doesn't matter… you're coming with my Izuku." His father told him, roughly dragging him along until he was in the door frame, stopped by a hand on the arm. The one I had put there. God, his arms were muscular.

"You can't just come in here and drag Midoriya off." I said as he pulled his arm out of my grip.

"I'll do whatever the hell I want with him, he's my son. And it's none of your damn business anyway."

"With all due respect-" I was promptly cut off by the look he gave me and the murderous intent in his eyes.

"Ugh, … I mean…" I mumbled, sizing up the bulging muscles of his arms in the short sleeve shirt he was wearing despite the cold. I was about to just call it quits and say 'nevermind' when I saw the shivering of Izuku's body in his father's large, rough hands.

"Yes?" Izuku's father asked.

"Izuku was going to stay the night here, seeing as to the fact that YOU told him not to come back tonight." I said, standing my ground.

A sickening grin twisted across Izuku's father's face as he glared at me.

"Talk to me like that again brat, I dare you." He said, flexing his muscles.

"Dad, plea-"

"You shut up." Mr. Midoriya let go of Midoriya which sent him tumbling to the ground.

"Hey!" I shouted, a little too loudly.

"Listen kid, if you don't want to get your ass beat… I'd suggest you leave us alone."

"Uttering threats, huh? My dad's a cop, so unless you want your ass handed to you in court for threatening a kid such as myself, _I'd _suggest _you _leave _us _alone." I said with confidence.

Midoriya's father let out a snort and pushed midoriya out the door.

"Kids these days… no respect for their elders." He grumbled, exiting the door himself and grabbing Midoriya' s arm

Midoriya let out a small, pained cry at the touch and at the time I thought it was because his father had grabbed him so roughly, which enraged me. I nearly lept out of the house and onto his father's back, but two strong sets of hands and arms held me back.

"Let him go, Shouto, just let him go."

I stared out the open door at the two people exiting (one being dragged off of) their property.

"Fuck." I muttered, pulling out of their grips.

(Later that night, still Shouto's P.O.V)

Natsuo, Fuyumi and I all sat on Natsuo's bed as Natsuo and Fuyumi went at it in a video game.

"Do you think Midoriya gets treated like that on a daily basis?" I questioned as they both chanced a glance at me from their videogame.

"I don't know little bro." Natsuo said, and Fuyumi nodded her head. "There's really no way of knowing… unless we have more encounters with Midoriya and his father."

"Why are you so interested anyway?"

"I think he's being abused." I told them and Natsuo paused the game.

"You've known him for all of two days… no, not even two days, and you think he's being abused?"

"YES!" I shouted at him.

"Why?" Fuyumi asked, looking concerned.

"Because he was limping, though he said it was from planter… planer… planters…. Ugh, some foot disease, and did you not see the going away marks of a black eye and split lip? Also, he had a pained arm this morning."

"Didn't he get pushed up against the bus window yesterday? And what about those kids and what they had to say this morning?

He's clearly being bullied."

"Well… it still doesn't explain how he was limping worse than he was last night."

"What if he really does just have a foot…. Disease…?"

"Well…"

"Exactly. You have nothing to worry about, I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah, his father did reek of alcohol, so maybe he only gets treated like that when he's drunk." Natsuo confirmed

I stared at the ground for a second, then looked back up at them.

"Okay, you're probably right… I have nothing to worry about." I said, grinning at them and they grinned back, then Natsuo unpaired the game.

(No one's P.O.V.)

Meanwhile, at the Midoriya residence, the pained cries of Izuku went unheard as his father pounded into him from behind.


	5. Chapter 5

So, I am no longer going to use P.O.V. 's, as in the re-written story Theo (or, Lilac_satan) doesn't use them and I don't want to make any unnecessary work for them.

Also, I was asked if Todoroki had a scar on his left eye in this story, and the answer would be no, no he does not.

Izuku woke to the sound of a blaring alarm clock, "Shit!" He whisper-yelled as quietly as possible pressing the 'snooze' button on the top of the clock. He must have forgotten to turn off the alarm last night/earlier in the morning (since he never got to sleep any earlier than 4:00 in the morning, 3:00 if he was lucky), as he was a little…. Preoccupied. He cringed at the thought and forced his way out of bed, sincerely hoping his father didn't get woken up by the alarm as he had. He silently made his way down the stairs in the near darkness of the house and into the bathroom at the beginning of the floor. After washing his hands he tip-toed down the hallway, through the livingroom and into the kitchen, and he (thankfully) could hear his father's snores when he passed by his room. He opened the freezer and silently pulled out a package of bacon. He slid five pieces out and then grabbed a pan and filled it with oil, he put the thirteen pieces in the pan after it heated up and on another pan he cracked four eggs, this way, if his father didn't wake up from his alcohol induced sleep, he could sneak three pieces of bacon and an egg, if his father woke up, well, he we a pig anyway and would eat nearly all or all the food. Izuku would be lucky to get a piece of bacon and half an egg if that happened. He glanced at the clock sideways as he completed making the meal, it was 7:22 and he had woken up at 7:00. He put all the food on a plate and quickly scarfed down the food that was made for him.

He looked around the barely lit room due to the old bulb in the ceiling and decided he'd best cover the plate with his dad's food on it then put it in the fridge. After standing in the kitchen for a few more seconds after that, he thinks it would be a good time to watch TV, if he didn't take the opportunity now, when would he? He silently sat down on the couch and grabbed hold of the remote sitting on the scratched-up coffee table. He pressed the power button and went to FVPstreaming, an American run, nation-wide streaming service that his dad had an account on. There was an American section, which had shows with Japanese subtitles, and some of the cartoons were even Japanese dubbed, like Bobsponge Pantssquare, a very old cartoon that he was way too old to like but watched anyway. He clicked his dad's account (the only one there was) and began an episode of 'North Park', another American cartoon. Of course, he could just watch a Japanese show,, but most of them were shows where you actually had to watch from episode 1 to understand what was going on, there weren't too many mindless tv shows on the service to begin with, but North Park was one of them. He spent a good 6 hours going between Bobsponge Pantssquare and North Park, the volume on the T.V. turned down real low and the subtitles on and Izuku actually found it in him to laugh at some of the jokes: "Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly!" Said the black-haired girl on North Park. "Intelligent and friendly on rye bread, with some mayonnaise." Replied the fat kid. Izuku laughed out loud, then covered his mouth hastily. He quickly switched off the T.V. and listened carefully for his father to do something, anything. When nothing happened he let out a sigh of relief and got up. He slowly made his way to the kitchen and checked the clock on the stove. "Holy shit!" Izuku muttered, staring at the clock, wide eyed. He hadn't even changed out of the clothes from yesterday yet. He made his way upstairs and was about to change out of his dirty ratty clothes into his clean ratty clothes before realizing he hadn't showered in days. God, he must have stunk at this point. He grabbed the outfit in his closet and went downstairs, grabbed a towel and then made his way into the shower.

Izuku waited for the water to warm up before jumping in. He poured some shampoo in his hand and then slapped his hand to his thick, unruly, curly forest green hair and began massaging the soap into his scalp. He then bent backwards and rinsed his hair out, before going to work on his bruised, scarred and cut up body. He felt the hot water on his back, running down his behind, adding to the pain he already felt there and remembered what happened last night, and all the other times of course. Izuku's vision blurred and he didn't want to admit that he was crying. He deserved everything his father did to him, the beating, the berating, the rape… he deserved it all, God, why was he crying NOW? He'd been going through this a long time. He needed to get. Over. It. …but he didn't know if he ever would.

He started scrubbing at the cuts on his arm with his face cloth, rubbing and rubbing, the dull pain bringing something to him that nothing else could. He stared as the blood mixed with the water and turned a rusty orange colour before it was sucked down the drain. His arm stung, but it wasn't enough… he needed more…. So when he spotted the razor with three beautifully sharp blades in it, just sitting in the corner of the tub, BEGGING him to take the blades out and cut himself with them, he didn't hesitate to unscrew the top and pull the blades out. Thank God it was one that you could take apart and put back together. He sat down as the water lightly pelted him from above and held his arm out, putting the blade to the high part of his left thigh. He dragged it across his body harshly, watching as the skin split apart and blood rushed from the wound and drizzled down his scarred leg. After mere seconds of ripping apart his flesh he had many, maybe 10 cuts on his thigh now. He sighed contently and his tense shoulders relaxed after the whole ordeal. He looked at his handy work and noticed he'd probably cut too deep again, as he could see the muscle and a small amount of fat (due to what little fat he had on his body he had in the first place).

It was painful, yes, but he needed it to ground him, and the deep throbbing pain he felt afterwards was what he deserved, just like the pain his father inflicted on him nearly daily.

Once the blood and tears stopped leaking from his body, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

He avoided looking at his naked bruised and cut body in the mirror before going ahead and drying himself off and putting on new clothes.

Afterwards, while he was taking his old clothes up to his room to throw in the laundry hamper, he heard his father's bedroom door creak open slowly. That's when he remembered something. "Shit." Izuku whispered, quickly making his way upstairs then back down. "Shit, shit, shit." He muttered, listening to his father's footsteps make their way to the bathroom.

Izuku's father knew he cut himself, and usually he didn't care, but a little while ago he told him not to do it anymore, at least where he could see (he almost never took Izuku's shirt off during... you know...) and Izuku had broken that rule, if he saw blood anywhere, anywhere at all, he'd most definitely ask to see where he cut himself. He'd forgotten! It had been so long since he cut his legs, weeks maybe, because he usually cut his upper arms, but… now? What would his father do if there was so much as a drop of blood on the tiled floor? Would he beat him again? What if he was in the mood for worse? 'Damn it!' He thought, going from standing frozen at the bottom of the stairs to the living room. He sat down on the couch, tensed up and waiting for his father to start screaming.

It was silent for a moment, possibly the most intense moment of his life, until Hisashi's furious voice sounded out.

"Izuku, you fucking pig, get over here RIGHT NOW!" He yelled, sounding angry and joyous at the same time, probably because he knew Izuku 'deserved' the beating, as he always said it was better when earned. Izuku obliged, shaking lightly and cursing himself for it.

"Y-yes?" He managed to get out.

"Why do you look so scared, son?" He cooed, and Izuku forced his emotions to fall from his face.

"I'm not…"

"Well, why don't you tell me what this is." He said, grabbing Izuku by the hair and pulling his face towards the ground as Izuku winced.

"I-... it's blood."

"Yes, it is, good job son." He said with a mock smile, letting izuku go.

"Now, why don't you tell me where this came from, and so help me God, if you don't say your arm, I'll fucking make you cry even more today."

"Wha- h-how do you know I've been crying?" He asked cautiously, trying to avoid the question for as long as possible.

"Your eyes are red and you're such a pussy it's only natural. Now, answer the question."

Izuku stared at the ground and as quietly as he could muster he said, "It's from my leg."

"What? Speak the fuck up you piece of shit."

"My leg…" He said quietly again, earning him a slap across the face, which made him clutch his face and nearly fall.

"I said speak up. Goddammit Izuku, you're really pissing me off!"

"I'm sorry. …"

"Sorry you're such a shit child? Yeah, I don't forgive you. Now, what limb did you fucking cut?"

He then gave him a swift kick to the stomach.

"My leg!" Izuku cried out in pain.

"God!" Hisashi screamed, bending down and picking him up by the hair.

"What did I fucking tell you you little bitch?!"

"Don't cut my leg-"

"DON'T CUT YOUR LEG, THAT'S FUCKING RIGHT!" He let go of Izuku's hair and started beating him with his foot, not caring if he hit his face.

"YOU THINK I WANT TO SEE THAT DISGUSTING SHIT WHILE I'M FUCKING YOU?"

"N-no." Izuku managed to choke out through the pain.

"Fuck you. You're fucking pathetic." Hisashi sneered, spitting on the boy.

"Don't do that sissy shit again… at least not on your thighs, or you'll have more than just bruises on your skin." His father said.

"What-" Izuku went into a fit of coughing before continuing. "What do you mean?" Izuku asked.

"Try bullet holes riddling your body, you fucking retard."

And with that, his father left through the front door and as Izuku heard his car leave the driveway, and he finally felt safe enough to pass out on the hardwood floor.

Izuku awoke later that night to the sound of a car pulling up into the driveway then car doors slamming. There was a pause between the sound of the car doors closing and the sound of the front door opening, revealing Izuku's father and his friend Zankoku, a man who was as evil as his father, a man who beat him on almost at least a monthly basis.

"Hey Izuku." Said Zankoku kindly, always one to mock. Izuku stayed silent and watched as the two men carefully removed their footwear. "Izuku," his father growled, "It's impolite not to greet someone who has greeted you" Hisashi sneered, looking over his son's pathetic body.

"Sorry sir," he said to his father, "how are you Suzuki?"

"Oh, fine, fine, thanks for asking… I think I'll be better once I get my hands on you though, Izuku-kun."

"But… you know. It's a pity your father already beat you, I wanted to see your pale skin go from white to blacka nd blue, wouldn't you agree, izuku-kun?"

'No.'

"Y-Yes… it's a real shame." Izuku uttered, preparing himself for the beating he was about to receive.

"Well, then I say we do something a little more… fun…" He suggested, undoing his belt. For a second Izuku thought he was about to get whipped, not really taking the words into account, only thinking that he could only mean he was going to step it up a notch from his usual kicking and punching. That is until the man grasped onto his green locks, pulled him up and dragged him into the living room, where he promptly threw him onto the couch, Hisashi watching with a hungry gaze.

"W-What are you doing?" Izuku gasped, as hands snatched at his shirt and pulled it up over his head and onto the floor.

"S-Stop!" He screamed, he usually only rebelled against his father in the beginning, then slowly turned to tears and some of his favorite memories with his mom for comfort, but now, after all the things he put up with from his father, he thought ultimately running away would be the best option. So with frantic hands and pent up anger he quickly grabbed hold of the lamp on the table beside the couch and smashed it over Zankoku's head.

The man fell to the floor and before he had time to get to his feet, Izuku used the opportunity to quickly hop over the couch and out the door, shirtless as he was, and his father screaming after his retreating form.

"Izuku, you get your goddamn ass back here, right fuking now!"

He heard his father barrelling through the living room as he ran at full tilt out the back door, running across what felt like a field through his backyard and into the woods near his house, he could still hear his father screaming obscenities at him as he continued to run through the wilderness. He stopped after what felt like hours later and brought his hands to his knees, bending over and hurling what little he had for breakfast onto the winding trail, he was also shivering due to his lack of a shirt and the cold weather, the only things he had on were bandages around his arm, his boxers and a pair of pants. No shoes, no shirt, no socks even. "Dammit." He whispered, making his way to the street beside the small woods and walked, barefoot and breathing laboured to Shoto's house. He quietly made his way to the back of the house and tapped loudly on the door… well, as loudly as he could with spots dancing around his vision and a weakness coursing through what felt his bones.

A few seconds later, a young man with red hair and pale, oval shaped eyes came to the door sporting a frown.

"Wha-..." He began, looking over Izuku.

"T-This is where Shoto lives, right? Shoto Todoroki?"

"Y… Yes, it is."

"Can you get him?"

"Dude, it's like 1:00 in the morning, he's probably asleep." Toya said.

Izuke seemed taken aback at the time, but spoke no less, "Please, can you just see if he's awake… if he's not I'll be more than happy-" Izuku choked back a sob and collected himself, thinking about what might happen if Shoto wasn't awake. "More than happy to leave." He finished.

"Uh… I guess I could try…" Toya supposed, telling Izuku he could step inside after noticing his bare feet in the snow. He made his way through the room and paused at the entrance to the hallway and glanced at Izuku wearily. If he was a friend of Shout's, he'd have no problem letting him crash here (if that's what the issue was), but the fact that he had never seen him before made him weary... What if this kid wanted to murder Shoto in his sleep or something crazy like that? Then, he remembered the name of Shoto's little friend, he couldn't remember the first name, but he remembered "Midoriya"

"What's your name?" Toya questioned, seeing Izuku flinch at his semi-loud voice over the quiet sounds coming from the TV.

"Midoriya," Izuku said."Midoriya Izuku." This seemed to comfort Toya somewhat, as he muttered a simple, "I'm Toya." and made his way upstairs to see if shoto was awake, all the while trying to figure out if he should let this kid stay here for the night (again, that SEEMED to be the issue, but who knew?) or just kick him out.

He lightly rapped his knuckles on the door and it opened while squealing on its hinges. "Shoto? He muttered, going to his bed, and noticed a faint glow from beneath the blankets.

"I can see that your phone is clearly on, Sho."

"Dammit." Shoto muttered, pulling the blankets off his head. "What? Are you going to tell dad in the morning?" He asked, a look of pure annoyance crossing his features. "I haven't thought about that yet, but your little friend is here.

"Midoriya?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I have no idea, just… come downstairs and talk to him, okay? He seems a bit… out of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Just come talk to him already, Jeez. Enough with the annoying questions." Toya said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine…"

He made his way out of the bed, placing his phone down on the bedside table.

When they made their way down stairs, through the hallway and into the open area that was their kitchen, dining area and living room, they saw Izuku shaking in the same spot Toya had left him.

"Midoriya?" Shoto asked cautiously, noticing the vacant look in his eyes, and was immediately taken aback by the state of his small, boney, bruised torso. He knew he was thin, but this was down right distressing.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?" Shoto asked, trying not to look at his concave stomach.

Izuku doesn't respond right away, instead he was busy thinking about his father and Zankoku and what could have happened tonight, it was bad enough that he had sex with his father (He refused to call it what it was; rape), and now his father's friend wanted to have sex with him too? He just didn't understand, he was ugly, and his body grossed even himself out when he stared at it in the mirror, what with how his bones stuck out at odd angles, and his skin was a sickly pale, which accentuated the bruises on his body to add on top of that, so, why?

"-doriya, Midoriya?" Shoto was shaking him by the shoulders, causing him to flinch at this realization and shy away from his warm hands on his cold skin.

"S-Sorry…" Izuku muttered, watching Shoto intently.

"My dad got mad and kicked me out."

Shoto eyes him up and down, taking in his dishevelled appearance, the lack of socks and shirt, and the slightly bloodied bandages winding down and around his left arm and the bruises all over his body.

"What else happened? Why are you near naked, and why do you have bandages around your arm?" He questioned, thinking the bruises were from the bullies at school.

"I uh, I was getting ready for bed, and I only sleep in what you see on me and the bandages are from me scraping my arm when I fell off my bike." Izuku lied smoothly, as he was used to answering questions about the abuse he put up with at home from teachers and… well, teachers was really it. He'd not had any friends since he was six and Katsuki Bakugo decided he was just 'too cool' to be hanging out with a cry baby wimp like Izuku.

"Your dad seriously kicked you out wearing… THAT?" Toya gaped.

"Yes. He can be cruel when he's drunk, but when he's sober, he really makes up for it." Izuku lied, feeling a bit guilty for doing so to one of the only people who was nice to him, the only person who knew he was suicidal, and actually helped him when he found out… his only… friend(?).

Shoto thought about this for a second, looking back at all the times he'd seen his father, and realized that only one of those times he had been sober, and even then, it was questionable. "And just how often is your father 'sober'?"

'Never.' Izuku paused, "Almost always, it's just been a rough week for him, that's why he's so… 'out of it' I guess."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, why is he having a hard time, and what could be so bad that he kicked you out in what you're wearing now?" Shoto asked, with what looked like genuine concern on his face.

"Are we really having this conversation at 1:00AM?" Izuku deadpanned, trying to hold back tears thinking about the real reason he was "kicked out".

"He's right Sho, we should talk about this in the morning." Toya stated.

Shoto stared at him for a moment, deciding on what to say before asking: "So that means you'll let him stay, right?"

"Yes, of course."

A look of relief washed over Izuku as he cast his gaze to the floor. 'Thank God.' He thought.

"Alright, I guess we'll go over these questions tomorrow then." Shoto said, grabbing Izuku's hand, earning a major flinch from him as he waved goodnight to his brother, concern washing over him at the flinch.. He is a bully victim so he shouldn't be surprised. They didn't see Toya grimacing as they went by and he caught a glimpse of how small Izuku really was.

As they made their way upstairs, Shoto noticed Izuku becoming heavily out of breath, which was very worrying all on its own, given his very thin appearance.

When they got to Shotos room, Shoto opened the door and went inside, ushering Izuku in alongside him. He gave Izuku a shirt that was a bit tight on him, but left Izuku swimming in the spare room and Izuku asked if they had any spare blankets, as he would like something to lay on on the ground, but Shoto insisted he take the bed. Izuku refused this, saying it wasn't fair, to which Shoto replied, he was his guest.

Eventually, they agreed to both take the bed, as it was big enough, and not wanting to sound suspicious at the touch aspect of things, Izuku reluctantly agreed. They slept head to foot, foot to head.

It wasn't until an hour later that Shoto woke up to the bed shaking lightly, soft sniffles, and slightly choked breaths, indicating that Izuku was, in fact, crying.

It was well past 10:00AM when Shoto finally rolled out of bed, shocked to see that Izuku wasn't there.

He rushed downstairs, still in his pajamas, frantic to see if Izuku was still there.

"Oh hey Shoto." Fuyumi said from the couch, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Where's Midoriya?" He asked, walking further into the living room.

"His father came for him this morning." Natsuo said from the other couch.

"Was he DRUNK?" Shoto asked, incredulous that he wasn't.

"No, he actually seemed really nice. He mentioned something about… oh… what was his name? It started with a 'Z'... well, he said that his friend, whoever that was, was gone." Natsuo said.

"Speaking of which, Shoto," His father said from the table, putting his phone and fork down.

"Yeah?" Shoto spoke.

"Who told you you could have friends over last night?" Enji asked, no usual smile adorning his face.

"Toya did."

"Hey! Rat much?" Toya glared.

Enji let out a sigh and looked between the boy standing beside the table and the boy sitting at it.

"Next time, I would prefer if you asked me."

"He got kicked out by his father, he wasn't wearing shoes or a shirt either. I couldn't say 'no'." Shoto nearly yelled, still angry that his father would do something so cruel.

Enji raised his eyebrows at this.

"Really?" He asked, and it was his turn to be incredulous.

Shoto thought about telling him how mean he was when he was drunk, but as his father was a police officer, he didn't want him to open an investigation on Izuku's father or something like that.

"Yeah." He said lowly and decided to end the conversation there, going into the kitchen and grabbing a plate, put a few pieces of bacon and eggs on it, and sat down at the table to eat… trying his best not to think about the cute, big-eyed, greenette.


	6. Chapter 6

I Just wanted to say, I know in the anime/manga Aldera is a junior high, and to those of you who have already read up to this chapter, I made a few adjustments to the story... so if you are confused; yes, I used to have Aldera as a junior high, but then my dumb ass was in the shower and thought: "Hey, if it's a junior high... how are Fuyumi and Natsuo going there?" *Sigh* So, here you have it: Aldera School, which goes from grades kindergarten to Twelve. Enjoy.

February turned to March, and the school year was nearly over, entrance exams had already happened a few months prior, and to celebrate those who did get into high schools they had to apply for (if they had decided they weren't going to stay at Aldera, as Aldera accepted all grades), the staff thought (as they did every year) that they should have fun before the school year ended on the third week of March. It had been two weeks since Izuku had last seen Zankoku and he was happy about that, but he wasn't happy about the swimming trip his class was going on, which they were on the bus for right now. Todoroki was with him though, so that was good.

"So how's your home life going?" Shoto asked, masking his concern with nonchalance.

"How many times do I have to tell You?; I'm fine, my dad is fine, my life is great." Izuku twisted his head around and faced him as opposed to looking out the window.

"Yeah, sorry I'm so annoying, concerned about you, caring about you and all… a true friend… how awful." Shoto said and Izuku turned away, slight tears filling his eyes, as no one had said they cared for him in such a long time, nor had anyone considered him a friend in the same respect.

"Whatever." He muttered, feigning annoyance.

"Well anyway, guess what happened last night?" Shoto asked, putting a hand over his mouth to conceal his laughter, but didn't miss the rubbing of each eye that Izuku did before turning back to him. "What?" Izuku asked, looking at him curiously.

Shoto couldn't hold back anymore, and burst out laughing and Izuku flinched as Shoto reached to put his hand on Izuku's shoulder, which was missed by Shoto (as his eyes were closed). Izuku smiled while nearly all the students turned their nosey heads to see what was so funny. Bakugo gave a snort turned to his friend Tsubasa, probably to make a crude joke about either him or Todoroki, but at the moment the sound of one of his only friends' laughter was all that mattered to him… and what a sweet sound that was.

Izuku smiled genuinely and waited for Shoto's unusual fit of laughter to die down.

"Are you going to tell me or what?" Izuku questioned, smile still present when Shoto opened his eyes, and they lit up as they landed on Izuku's stretched from side to side mouth. Izuku saw where his gaze was and immediately blushed, which Shoto found to be immensely cute. "Natsuo was listening to some boy band in the shower when he thought no one was home, SINGING ALONG to it and everything! Big surprise to him when he came out buck naked only to find we had all returned from the movies and were sitting on the couch." Shoto wheezed. Izuku didn't really see the humor in it, but laughed anyway. They shared funny stories… well, Shoto shared funny stories, until finally they arrived at the pool center. As they were getting off, Bakugo shot them a look from in front of the group of classes, which was recuperated by Shoto. Izuku nearly had a heart attack when he saw this and frantically waved his hands around beside Shoto while whisper-yelling at him to STOP.

"What? If he's gonna be such an asshole, I'm gonna be one back. I don't even understand how anyone could give such an innocent broccoli such a hard time." Shoto said with a serious look on his face.

Izuku stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and face burning with embarrassment. "Br- Broc- Broccoli?!" He stuttered out, and Shoto laughed at his cuteness. "Yeah, that's what you are after all." Shoto took him by the hand and dragged him along with the rest of the group, as Izuku was too busy malfunctioning to walk on his own. They finally reached the center's large glass doors and walked in.

"This place is huge!" Someone gasped loudly and Izuku thought he wouldn't disagree with that statement. "It really didn't look that big from the outside, huh?" Izuku said quietly, searching his surroundings. "I have to agree, though it's most likely because it's so long."

"Yeah, probably."

Izuku and the rest of the students continue walking until they reach the front desk, and after the teachers pay, the boys and girls split into two different groups and get ready to go to their respective locker rooms, the girls leave but then there is a problem. "Where's Mr. Koiya?"

One of the teachers asks, scanning the building for the man.

"I don't think he was even on the bus to begin with." One of Izuku's classmates says.

"Mr. Koiya has always been a fucking dumbass." Izuku hears Tsubasa whisper to Bakugo, followed by a snort from his former best friend.

"Why are they such dicks?" Shoto whispers to Izuku as the male part of the class breaks out into chatter. Izuku smiles and says, "they weren't always dicks… well, not to me anyway, Bakugo and I used to be friends, you know. Best friends."

Shoto's face morphs into a shocked expression and he stares at Izuku for a moment before finally speaking. "What?"

"We've known each other since we were babies, he used to be my best friend, and then when we were six or seven he stopped talking to me, shortly after that he began bullying me."

"Why?"

"No clue." Izuku said as he walked over and sat on the bench a short distance away from the group as the teachers sorted things out.

"That sucks… and you haven't had any friends since?" Shoto asked, expression grim.

"Not one."

"Because of Bakugo… or…?"

"Basically, yeah. And because he bullies me, the other asshats in the school started as soon as he did." Izuku said.

Shoto growled and shot a look in Bakugo's direction, as one of the staff from the front desk came out and began talking to their teachers, Mr. Oru, and Mr. Dera. After Izuku came out with the statement that Bakugo was the root of what felt like most of his problems, Shoto hadn't stopped glaring at Bakugo with narrow, snake-like eyes. 'Scary…' Izuku thought for the briefest of moments, 'good thing he's on my side…' Izuku quickly glanced down at Shoto's toned arms, which were shown off in his short-sleeved shirt, and for a split second wished those arms were wrapped around him. 'Wait, what?' Izuku's face turned an excellent shade of red before he decided he'd put that thought away for later.

"Will you stop?" Izuku muttered after his face had at least felt like it had gone back to a normal shade.

Shoto twisted around to face him once more and Izuku didn't miss the look of resentment in his eyes, which he could only hope wasn't for him.

"He deserves to die."

"What?! No, no he doesn't! God Todoroki, what's gotten into you?" Izuku sputtered, shocked he would even think about anything like that, especially since it was on his behalf.

"What? It's not like I'm saying I'll do it, I'm just saying… I don't know, maybe he'll get what he deserves. You know, like; karma's a bitch and all that jazz." Shoto winked.

"Get the thought out of that head of yours." Izuku frowned.

"Aw, you're so cute when you're trying to be all serious."

"Whatever you say, weirdo."

Just then, the staff had finished speaking and hushed the boys.

"Alright, so, we don't know what happened to Mr. Koiya, but we have someone else coming to supervise you kids instead." Mr. Oru said, and a youngish man waved his hand from beside them. "Hello everyone, my name is Akiko Rin, please treat me well!" Rin said with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

"Get a life." Katsuki whispered, and Tsubasa laughed. The youngish man heard and looked a little down at the comment, but his smile only faltered for a second.

"Thank you for the introduction." Mr. Oru spoke.

"And on that note, let's go swim!" The class followed as the teachers began walking to the male change rooms.

They all gathered inside the massive room and people began taking their clothes off and swim trunks on. Izuku made his way to the stalls to check what he would be changing in after, but was dismayed to see that they were both out of order. It didn't matter in the moment of course (Because he had his swim/bodysuit on under his clothes), but what would he do when he got out of the pool? Should he even swim to begin with? Or think of an excuse and wait behind everyone. Maybe he could say he needed to use the washroom and just change in the family bathroom.

"Excuse me…" Izuku said as he walked up to the youngish man, who was in a group with the two other teachers.

"Yes?"

"Um, I was wondering if I could get use the washroom?" He asked politely, Shoto standing a distance away, changing, but still watching over his friend. "There is a staff washroom down the hall, as the only other toilets available would be in the women's changing room." Rin said.

"Oh, th-there's no family change rooms?"

"Well, yes, there is, but the plumbing is all the same in the family changing room as it is in the male changing room because they're right beside each other, meaning the toilets line up on both sides." Rin said, showing Izuku what he meant with his hands, not that it helped any.

"What happened with the plumbing?"

"Oh, some idiot put a cherry bomb in one of the toilets… messed up all of 'em." Rin replied.

"Oh… okay… but, I was just wondering- an-and it's okay if you say no, but, is there any way I could change in the staff bathroom when I'm done?" Izuku asked him.

"I don't see why n-" He started, before being rudely interrupted by Mr. Dera, "absolutely not." He said with his eyes closed and finger pointing up.

"W-What? Why?" Izuku stuttered out.

"Because, we are not splitting up the group so one person can feel more comfortable in changing."

"But-"

"No but's Mr. Midoriya, you heard me."

"Yes, OK, but I really don't feel comfortable changing in front of everyone." Izuku complained and Mr. Oru nudged Mr. Dera with his elbow before saying, "Tell you what Midoriya, you can stay back then change when everyone else is done."

Izuku sighed with relief, Thank goodness. He thought it would look odd if he didn't swim after having this conversation, which he knew Shoto was listening in on at the moment. "Thank you Sensei." Izuku said happily, about to turn away.

"Do you still need the bathroom?" Rin asked and Izuku shook his head. "I just wanted to be able to change somewhere, so I made up that I had to go to the bathroom… s-sorry for l-lying." Izuku said and expecting a hit, he closed his eyes and braced himself.

"No worries." Rin said, nudging him slightly. Izuku flinched greatly at the touch, which was not missed by Shoto.

Izuku smiled gently once he realized he wasn't going to get hit and sheepishly made his way over to Shoto.

"What was that all about?" Shouto asked, now shirtless and in his swimsuit. Izuku looked down at his bare chest and his face heated up at the sight of his four-pack.

'Why am I blushing?' Izuku wondered, and just as he looked back at Shoto he noticed he must have caught sight of his wandering eyes, as he had a furious blush on his face as well.

"S-Sorry… what did you say?"

"I asked what you were… uh… talking about with the teachers…" Shoto said flatly and Izuku smiled, still a little stunned, "as if you weren't watching the whole thing." Izuku said, then began pulling off his pants. "That's right, I saw." He laughed as Shoto watched Izuku slowly take off his clothes, noticing as he winced at the slight movement. "Yeah, maybe. ...Hey… are you good? You seem to be in a lot of pain right now." Shoto questioned, noticing his one piece, long sleeved and long legged swimsuit and the fact that it covered EVERYTHING.

"Yeah, I'm good, that Arei beat me up bad the other day after school."

"I'll kill him." Shoto growled, pounding his fist against his palm in a cliche manner.

"No!" Izuku yelled and the other boys in the room turn and stare at him, causing him to go red in the face for the third time that day.

"You really need to stop doing that!" Izuku whisper-yelled this time.

"I'll stop making death threats when they stop hurting you." Shoto declared, vowing to himself that he would get Kaito for what he had done… however much later that was.

Izuku frowned, it was true that Kaito usually beat him up, yes, but he hadn't so much as seen him since he became friends with the Todorokis'… probably because of how goddamn intimidating the two boys looked… hell, even Fuyumi, the kind-hearted girl she was, was a little intimidating at times. But she had none of the muscles her brothers worked so hard to keep. Speaking of which...

"How are your work-outs going?" Izuku asked, pulling a white short-sleeved shirt (from years ago, as he would never where one today) out of his bag and onto his person.

"Nice subject change." Shoto said. "But it's going great. I can definitely see more definition in my muscles again." He stated proudly.

"Again?" Izuku questioned, once again peering down at Shoto's abs.

"Yeah, I might have lost a bit of muscle mass before moving here, due to the news I was moving."

"What, you stress ate or something?..." Izuku asked. "I wish I could do that…' He said aloud without realizing it.

"Why can't you?"

"Did I say that out loud?" He laughed nervously. Shoto paused and thought about all the instances he had seen involving food with izuku, and said: "Izuku, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly with me…" Shoto's eyes narrowed.

"I told you, my home life-"

"It's not about your home life… and I don't want you to make excuses Midoriya…"

Izuku gulped at Shoto's tone of voice, and could no longer hold eye contact. He began scratching at his barely healing arm, but Shoto was too caught up in the moment to realize this.

"Do… do you have an eating disorder?" Shoto came out and said with a nervous expression.

Izuku stared at him for a moment, making Shoto worry that maybe he was right before Izuku burst out laughing. Shoto looked around, seeing if anyone had done anything funny, noticed how empty the changing room was (even the teachers had gone), then turned back to Izuku.

"W-why are you laughing?" Shoto asked, fairly concerned at this turn of events.

"An eating disorder!" Izuku blurted out, laughing even harder to himself.

"Izuku… I don't…"

"Shoto, trust me I don't-… what made you think that I have an eating disorder?"

"W-well… you never have anything to eat at lunch, you don't accept our food anymore, you look no more than 90 pounds, and you just said you can't stress eat!" Shoto all but shouted.

"Well, I don't feel right taking your food… that's all…" Izuku said. "You obviously need more food than me, as you're muscular and all."

"Izuku! You look like a walking skeleton, and I'm not going to pretend I don't see you clutch onto things when you stand up or run too much for your body to handle, as if you're going to pass out or something!" Shoto shouted, genuinely angry that Izuku would say he needed more food than him, when that very clearly was NOT the case. "So what?... I-It's none of your business, asshole." Izuku said, using the only defense mechanism he could think of; ...Pushing people away. Though, it didn't seem to work on Shoto.

"Midori… please… you can tell me anything…" Shoto said, and Izuku's gaze flickered back up to Shoto.

"My… my dad doesn't feed me," He could picture himself saying. No, he couldn't say that, who knows where he'd end up if he got taken out of his dad's care? It could be even worse than this… he'd heard the horror stories from people in care… he knew how being in group homes changed a person, how they got influenced to do bad things. First it's petty crime, then you go to a youth center, and after that, you end up staying in jail for the rest of your adult life… Izuku didn't want that… what would his mother say? What if she was watching from above? Would she be disappointed? Yes! And, the worst part of it all of course, is that he'd never see Todoroki again. Todoroki was his savior… oh… that's right... he nearly forgot… he wouldn't get a chance to do anything horrible… wouldn't get to go to a group home, he'd surely off himself before any of that.

"I know I can tell you anything, Todo… but… can… can I tell you some other time?..." Izuku asked, eyes as downcast as he was feeling.

"...Sure…" Shoto smiled sadly. He would look forward to that day, though he had a feeling already that it had something to do with his father… he could be wrong, but. The reaction he had to the whole eating disorder theory made him think otherwise.

They made their way out of the changing rooms and into the pool, where they just talked and splashed around for what felt like hours, but was really only less than one.

Shoto waved at Izuku and made his way to the changing room, while Izuku stayed back for a few minutes, not seeing Mr. Dera scolding Katsuki for his comment directed towards Akiko from earlier across the pool room, which the teacher had learned about whilst everyone was swimming. When Izuku thought the coast was clear, he made his way into the changing room. He took off his shirt and body-bathing suit and was in the middle of putting one foot in his underwear when he heard someone enter the room.

"Ew- It's you, fucking Dek-..." Izuku looked up, caught like a deer in the headlights as Katsuki stood frozen after he was half way inside. "Is anyone in there?" He heard Mr. Dera call from somewhere behind him, and he barely registered Katsuki say the words "No, uh… no one…" Mr. Dera's footprints walked away, possibly to exit using the clear side doors Izuku had seen whilst swimming.

Once the coast was clear, Katsuki took a hesitant step forward. "What he fuck happened to you? Those… those are pretty fucking deep, Deku…" He said, carefully making his way over to the pale, shaken looking Izuku.

"You did it to yourself… didn't you?" Katsuki asked, and when Izuku didn't answer, he suddenly felt his famous anger.

"Dammit Deku! What the fuck happened?! Fucking answer me!" He screamed, earning a flinch from Izuku.

"Ye-yes.. I… I d-did it to m-...myself…" Izuku stuttered out in a petrified, trembling voice.

The anger seemed to come and go in an instant, and suddenly Katsuki was standing in front of Izuku.

"Is it…" Katsuki struggled to say what he was thinking. "Is it because… because of me?" He whispered, moving to touch the angry gashes on Izuku's arm only for Izuku to pull away. It was his turn to be angry. "What? You're an asshole to me for eight years, then you see these… these cuts and you wanna be nice? Are you fu-..." Izuku took a second to compose himself, then continued, "are you kidding me?" He was on the verge of shouting, the fear he had just felt disappearing just as Katsuki's anger had.

"I was six and didn't know how I felt."

Izuku's expression morphed into that of confusion and as he tilted his head to the side, he asked, "what are you talking about?" He demanded, still not done being angry.

"I…" He paused, looking at the ground before frowning. "Listen, I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. If I knew you were, uh, doing... THAT to yourself, I would have stopped a long time ago." Katsuki said.

"Seriously? That's it? You 'would have stopped'? Are you being facetious right now?" Izuku growled.

"Facetious? What does that-"

"It means you're mocking the situation!"

"No! I'm- I'm trying to apologise!" Katsuki said very seriously, as he genuinely felt bad for Izuku (for the first time in who knew how long) and knew it was most likely his fault (most likely) that he was suffering so much that he felt like his only outlet was cutting.

"Sure. I've gotta go. " Izuku said, as he was now fully dressed, and he made his way to the door. "If you really want to make it up to me… you'll be nice to me from now on… and you'll call off your little goons from beating me." Izuku said as he opened the door.

"Don't get too cocky Deku." Katsuki said, but he would do anything for Izuku, now that he knew the first person he'd ever had romantic feelings for was going through such a rough time.


End file.
